The Commentariat -- September 10, 2018
Afternoon Update:
Hahahahaha. Emily Goldberg of Politico: "... Donald Trump promised Monday that he would 'write the real book' to set the record straight on his administration, once again lashing out against veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward, whose incendiary book about the Trump White House will be released this week. 'The Woodward book is a Joke -- just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources. Many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction,' Trump tweeted on Monday morning. 'Dems can't stand losing. I'll write the real book!' Trump added on Twitter, 'The White House is a 'smooth running machine.' We are making some of the biggest and most important deals in our country's history -- with many more to come! The Dems are going crazy!'"
Courtney Cube & Carol Lee of NBC News: "As ... Donald Trump issues a steady stream of praise for Kim Jong Un in interviews and on Twitter, a steady stream of evidence that North Korea is still making nuclear weapons has pushed his administration to take a much more aggressive stance toward Pyongyang. The newest intelligence shows Kim's regime has escalated efforts to conceal its nuclear activity, according to three senior U.S. officials. During the three months since the historic Singapore summit and Trump's proclamation that North Korea intends to denuclearize, North Korea has built structures to obscure the entrance to at least one warhead storage facility, according to the officials." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Yes But. As we found out last week, Trump needs Kim as a character witness.
Mark Landler of the New York Times: "The Trump administration threatened the International Criminal Court with sanctions if it pursued an investigation of American troops in Afghanistan, opening a harsh new attack on an old nemesis of many on the political right. 'The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,' President Trump's national security adviser, John R. Bolton, said in a speech on Monday in Washington.... Mr. Bolton also announced that the United States would shut down the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington -- a decision linked to the International Criminal Court, which he said was being prodded by the Palestinians to investigate Israel." Related Bloomberg story linked below.
One of Republicans' favorite voter suppression mechanisms:
Senate Race. How perceptions of health insurance have changed:
Mrs. McCrabbie: I could have done this myself, but not as well as Akhilleus did, so I'm going with his take: "Florida goobernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis has announced that he is stepping down from his do-nothing job in the Confederate House so that he might have more time for some high quality -- and quantity -- racist tweeting." ...
... Speaking of Goobernatorial Candidates. Natasha Korecki of Politico: "There’s every reason to believe this is the beginning of the end for Scott Walker.... The signs that Walker is ripe to be taken down are everywhere. His opponent, Schools Superintendent Tony Evers, has a slight lead in recent polls and there's evidence that critical suburban voters are shifting leftward. Three former Walker aides have even turned on the governor, with two cutting ads for Evers.... A career educator, Evers presents a crisp contrast with Walker, who's held elected office for more than two decades. Democrats have seized on a 'Walker fatigue' message that blames him for a teacher shortage, deteriorating roads ('Scottholes' as one group calls them) and rising health care costs."
*****
Jonathan Swan of Axios: It's hard to overstate the extremity and variety of pressures bearing down on President Trump and his understaffed White House.... Trump's 'fine-tuned machine' is creaking under this stress.... Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and campaign chairman Paul Manafort are going to prison. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York have granted immunity to Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer.... Trump has grown to resent and distrust his White House Counsel, Don McGahn.... McGahn leaves this fall and he leaves behind an office unprepared to deal with the blizzard of subpoenas, investigations and possible impeachment proceedings that likely await it next year.... Bob Woodward's book hits the stands on Tuesday..., and the president now knows that some of his previously trusted White House aides play starring roles in Woodward's narrative.... The New York Times published an op-ed from an anonymous 'senior administration official' who claims to be part of a wide-reaching resistance to Trump's presidency.... The White House press and communications teams are very thin.... They are wrestling with a firehose of bad news."
David Martin of CBS News interviews Bob Woodward:
There Are No Adults in the Room
The Set-up. He's not a detail guy. Never put more than one page in front of him. Even if he'll glance at it, he.s not going to read the whole thing. Make sure you underline or put in bold the main points ... you'll have 30 seconds to talk to him. If you haven't grabbed his attention, he won't focus. -- Zach Fuentes, assistant to John Kelly, cited in Woodward's book Fear ...
... ** The Pay-off. Isaac Chotiner of Slate: "... Fuentes wasn't talking about Donald Trump; no, he was talking about John Kelly. And Woodward&'s book -- which arrived at around the same time as the already infamous, still-currently anonymous New York Times op-ed about the men and women in the executive branch supposedly working to protect America from Donald Trump -- is as much a portrait of the craven, ineffective, and counterproductive group of 'adults' surrounding Trump as it is a more predictable look into the president's shortcomings.... Fear will make plain to the last optimist that, just as Republicans in Congress are unlikely to save us, neither are the relative grown-ups in the Trump administration.... Moreover, many of these aides are tasked with -- or see their roles as -- not preventing policy decisions, but instead as putting the nicest, non-Trumpy face on Trumpism; the ethics of this deserves its own debate." ...
... Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If you have been buying into the hype-du-jour about Woodward's being an "impeccable journalist," do read Chotiner's review. Woodward is an "impeccable journalist" to the extent he can get the interviews others can't (tho he couldn't get Trump, could he?), & he has the tenacity to get substantive quotes from his subjects, but as an analyst, he sucks. P.S. He's a Republican. ...
... Quint Forgey of Politico: "Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday denied participating in any conversation about invoking the 25th Amendment in a bid to oust ... Donald Trump. 'No. Never,' Pence told Margaret Brennan of CBS News in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on 'Face the Nation.'... [Anonymous] asserted that Trump's cabinet considered invoking the 25th Amendment early on in his administration because of the 'instability many witnessed.'" Mrs. McC: What with Karen Pence having long since finished sewing up new calico curtains for the Oval, I find that hard to believe. ...
... Axios: "Former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed on MSNBC Sunday that she and other members of the Trump administration texted each other the hashtag '#tfa,' referring to the 25th Amendment, 'more than 100 times' during her tenure to discuss President Trump's 'unhinged' actions."
Andrew Restuccia, et al. of Politico: "Increasingly isolated and prone to conspiracy theories, President Donald Trump in recent weeks has become fixated on the idea that the country's largest tech giants -- Google, Facebook and Twitter -- are silencing his conservative base. Trump has come to view his supposed mistreatment at the hands of Silicon Valley as emblematic of a wide-reaching campaign to undermine his presidency.... Even though he doesn't use a computer and is seen by those around him as a tech neophyte, the president knows a powerful wedge issue when he sees one.... The president's embrace of anti-Silicon Valley rhetoric has been shaped by advisers who see it as the latest front in the country's long-running culture wars and believe it has the potential to rally conservative voters ahead of the midterms and the president's own reelection campaign in 2020." --safari
Jonathan Swan & Lauren Meier of Axios: "President Trump is expected to declassify, as early as this week, documents covering the U.S. government's surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the investigative activities of senior Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr, according to allies of the president.... Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees believe the declassification will permanently taint the Trump-Russia investigation by showing the investigation was illegitimate to begin with. Trump has been hammering the same theme for months." ...
... ** David Leonhardt of the New York Times: Donald Trump "could make his life easier if only he treated Vladimir Putin the way he treats most people who cause problems -- and cast Putin aside. Yet Trump can't bring himself to do so. This odd refusal is arguably the biggest reason to believe that Putin really does have leverage over Trump. Maybe it's something shocking.... Or maybe it's the scandal that's been staring us in the face all along: Illicit financial dealings -- money laundering -- between Trump's business and Russia. The latest reason to be suspicious is Trump's attacks on a formerly obscure Justice Department official named Bruce Ohr.... In his highly respected three-decade career in law enforcement, [Ohr] has specialized in going after Russian organized crime. It just so happens that most of the once-obscure bureaucrats whom Trump has tried to discredit also are experts in some combination of Russia, organized crime and money laundering." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Both Natasha Bertrand & Rachel Maddow ((and likely others) have made this point, but it bears repeating.
Jonathan Swan: "President Trump was bluffing when he tweeted that he knows the successor to White House counsel Don McGahn, and instead he is vacillating about new legal leaders.... McGahn is leaving soon, almost all of his deputies have departed and the office is nowhere near equipped for the storm that's likely coming.... Trump wants somebody who'll be unquestioningly loyal -- who'll be 'his guy' and defend him on TV, said a source familiar with his thinking." Mrs. McC: Yeah, & he wanted Jeff Sessions to do the same. The White House counsel represents the presidency, not the president. The attorney general is the government's chief lawyer, not the president's. But of course Trump can't get over his Louis XIV L'état, c'est moi monarchic view of the presidency, at least as long as he's the president.
Margaret Hartmann: "On Friday a lawyer for Essential Consultants, the company [Michael] Cohen set up to pay [Stormy] Daniels, sought to void the agreement in a legal filing, and get the $130,000 payment back. (Trump reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000, and it's unclear who would get the money if Daniels returned it.)... On Saturday, Trump's attorney Charles Harder said in a separate court filing that the president would not seek to enforce the agreement, and would not contest Daniels's 'assertion that the Settlement Agreement was never formed, or in the alternative, should be rescinded.' Harder called on Daniels to 'immediately dismiss' Trump from her lawsuit.... [Daniels' lawyer, Michael] Avenatti dismissed Trump's latest moves as an effort to avoid giving a deposition under oath, and said they would keep pursuing the case until they have 'full disclosure and accountability.'"
Juan Cole: "One of Trump's more dangerous features is his brittleness and thin skin.... But the most dangerous of all is his pettiness, the jabs at perceived enemies, no matter how minor. The treatment of 'plaid shirt guy' by Trump's staffers and the secret service assigned to him this weekend at Billings, Montana, is a case in point. Three local high schoolers attended the rally and unexpectedly ended up being very visible behind Trump. Senior Tyler Linfesty hammed it up, doing double takes or smiling knowingly when Trump told one of his famous whoppers. Trump's handlers, alarmed by the insufficiently beatific expression on Linfesty's face, came and got all three of the young students.... It is the kind of thing that happens in dictatorships all the time, though of course with worse consequences. But the difference is one of degree, not of kind." --safari
Josh Smith of Reuters: "With no long-range missiles on display, North Korea staged a military parade on Sunday focused on conventional arms, peace and economic development as it marked the 70th anniversary of the country's founding. The reduced display compared to past years earned a thank you note from ... Donald Trump, who hailed it as a 'big and very positive statement from North Korea.' Trump on Twitter quoted a Fox News description of the event without long-range nuclear missiles as a sign of North Korea's 'commitment to denuclearize.'" Mrs. McC: Once again, Trump got his daily briefing from Fox "News," not from intelligence staff. This is appalling.
Neal Boudette of the New York Times: "President Trump on Sunday suggested Ford Motor could begin making a small car in the United States instead of importing it from China. But the automaker quickly issued a statement saying it has no such plans. In August, Ford announced it had killed a plan to import the Focus Active, a roomy hatchback, saying the tariffs Mr. Trump has threatened to impose on vehicles built in China would increase costs too much for the company to hit its profit targets. Mr. Trump hailed the decision in a Twitter post on Sunday, apparently after he saw a report about the Focus Active on television. '"Ford has abruptly killed a plan to sell a Chinese-made small vehicle in the U.S. because of the prospect of higher U.S. tariffs." CNBC. This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!'... After Mr. Trump's tweet, the company responded...: 'It would not be profitable to build the Focus Active in the U.S. given an expected annual sales volume of fewer than 50,000 units and its competitive segment.'..."...
... OR, as Trump's nice chief-of-staff would say, "Thanks for the advice, Mr. Prez*. You can shove it up your ass six different times."
Full Court Press. Reuters: "U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered that $25 million earmarked for the care of Palestinians in East Jerusalem hospitals be directed elsewhere as part of a review of aid, a State Department official said on Saturday.... Last month, the Trump administration said it would redirect $200 million in Palestinian economic support funds for programs in the West Bank and Gaza. And at the end of August, the Trump administration halted all funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).... Palestinian refugees have reacted with dismay to the funding cuts, warning they would lead to more poverty, anger and instability in the Middle East." --safari...
... David Tweed of Bloomberg: "The Trump administration is expected to announce that it will close the Palestine Liberation Organization's office in Washington, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified White House officials. Monday's announcement is expected to be made in prepared remarks by National Security Adviser John Bolton, and is part of a widening U.S. pressure campaign on Palestinian officials amid stalled Middle East peace efforts, the paper reported." [Open in private window.] --safari
Matthew Mosk & Kaitlyn Folmer of ABC News: "George Papadopoulos, the one-time foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump who became swept up in the special counsel investigation, says members of the Trump campaign team were 'fully aware' and in many cases supportive of his efforts to broker a summit [between Trump &] Russian President Vladimir Putin." (Also linked yesterday.)
Maria Kiselyova of Reuters: "U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will visit Moscow from Sept. 11 to 13, Russian media reported on Sunday, citing a diplomatic source." Mrs. McC: I was just wondering whatever happened to Rick Perry. I guess he's been brushing up on his Russian.
Juan Cole: "Environmental activists protested Saturday in 90 countries and 800 cities across the globe and the United States against inaction on the Climate Crisis in the run-up to a major climate conference in San Francisco organized by Gov. Jerry Brown for Wednesday in the wake of Trump's violation of the Paris Climate Accords." --safari
2018 Election
Edward-Isaac Dovere: "Two days in, lots of prominent Republicans have complained about Barack Obama's speech on Friday calling Donald Trump's presidency a betrayal of America and a threat to its core -- but they haven't said he's wrong. Most prominent on that list is Trump himself, who, for a man his aides have often held up as someone who punches back, has so far said less to attack Obama than he has previously about the FBI, Steve Bannon, LeBron James or pretty much anyone else." Also, too, Trump can't spell "Barack." Mrs. McC: I wonder if that's why the investigators Trump supposedly sent to Hawaii couldn't find Obama's birth certificate. If you assume (and I don't, but it's an oft-repeated claim) that Trump ran for president because Obama pissed him off by making fun of his birther campaign at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, then it could be our national nightmare is the result of a misspelling.
Gubernatorial Races
New York. New York Times Editors: "This is dirty politics, nearly as sleazy as it gets. Days before [Gov. Andrew] Cuomo's primary race for re-election on Thursday, the New York State Democratic Committee has sent voters a campaign mailer falsely accusing his challenger, Cynthia Nixon, of being 'silent on the rise of anti-Semitism.' It says she supports the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel over its treatment of Palestinians. She does not. It accuses Ms. Nixon of opposing funding yeshivas, private religious schools attended by many of the city's Orthodox Jews. She has never said that. 'With anti-Semitism and bigotry on the rise, we can't take a chance,' the mailer reads. 'Re-Elect Governor Andrew Cuomo.' This is the lowest form of politics, and the most dangerous, exploiting the festering wounds and fears along ethnic and religious lines. 'I didn't know about the mailer,' Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday in Manhattan.... Sorry, Mr. Cuomo, but that strains credulity. Mr. Cuomo dominates the state Democratic Party." Nixon attends a synagogue. ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: The New York Times Editors endorsed Cuomo. They are not rescinding their endorsement here. ...
... Benjamin Hart of New York has more on the fallout & backlash against the mailer. Mrs. McC: The question for New York Democrats is: would I rather have a sleazy governor or an incompetent one? If I were still a New York voter, I think I'd go for incompetent. Either would screw up, but at least the incompetent governor would (likely) do so honestly.
Florida. Beth Reinhard & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), a gubernatorial nominee who recently was accused of using racially tinged language, spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe their freedom to white people and that the country's 'only serious race war' is against whites. DeSantis, elected to represent north-central Florida in 2012, appeared at the David Horowitz Freedom Center conferences in Palm Beach, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, said Michael Finch, president of the organization. At the group's annual Restoration Weekend conferences, hundreds of people gather to hear right-wing provocateurs such as Stephen K. Bannon, Milo Yiannopoulos and Sebastian Gorka sound off on multiculturalism, radical Islam, free speech on college campuses and other issues. 'I just want to say what an honor it's been to be here to speak,' DeSantis said in a 27-minute speech at the 2015 event in Charleston, a video shows. 'David has done such great work and I've been an admirer. I've been to these conferences in the past but I’ve been a big admirer of an organization that shoots straight, tells the American people the truth and is standing up for the right thing.'"
Ronan Farrow of the New Yorker: "Members of the board of the CBS Corporation are negotiating with the company's chairman and C.E.O., Leslie Moonves, about his departure. Sources familiar with the board's activities said the discussions about Moonves stepping down began several weeks ago, after an article published in the The New Yorker detailed allegations by six women that the media executive had sexually harassed them, and revealed complaints by dozens of others that the culture in some parts of the company tolerated sexual misconduct.... As the negotiations continue and shareholders and advocacy groups accuse the board of failing to hold Moonves accountable, new allegations are emerging. Six additional women are now accusing Moonves of sexual harassment or assault in incidents that took place between the nineteen-eighties and the early aughts. They include claims that Moonves forced them to perform oral sex on him, that he exposed himself to them without their consent, and that he used physical violence and intimidation against them. A number of the women also said that Moonves retaliated after they rebuffed him, damaging their careers." ...
... Brian Stelter of CNN: "Longtime CBS chief executive Les Moonves, facing new claims of sexual misconduct, is about to step down as part of a wide-ranging corporate settlement of a separate fight for control of CBS. The CBS board of directors is likely to announce the deal by Monday morning, according to three executives with direct knowledge of the matter. Lawyers were said to be putting the finishing touches on the settlement on Sunday. Internally, it is being called a 'global settlement,' meant to resolve months of litigation between Moonves and Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS. Moonves and Redstone were locked in a tug of war even before July 27, when Ronan Farrow first reported on alleged harassment by Moonves. The CBS board initially resisted calls for Moonves to be suspended or forced out." ...
... Meg James of the Los Angeles Times: "Bowing to pressure brought on by a sexual harassment scandal, CBS Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves is expected to resign late Sunday, according to two people familiar with the matter.... Moonves will leave without a severance package, according to the sources. The CBS board will wait to negotiate a financial settlement until the conclusion of an investigation by two prominent law firms into allegations of misconduct. In addition, CBS' board will get a makeover. Independent board members are poised to strike a separate settlement with its controlling shareholder family -- the Redstones. The deal being hammered out is expected to lead to a dramatic overhaul of CBS' board by installing six new board members, including several who are not aligned with the Redstone family." ...
... Update. Edmund Lee of the New York Times: "Leslie Moonves, the longtime chief executive of the CBS Corporation, stepped down on Sunday night from the company he led for 15 years. His fall from Hollywood's highest echelon was all but sealed after the publication earlier in the day of new sexual harassment allegations against him."
Eliott McLaughlin of CNN: "The US Open has fined Serena Williams $17,000 for three code violations during her loss in Saturday's women's singles final, the United States Tennis Association said. Saturday's match between Williams and Naomi Osaka in New York's Arthur Ashe Stadium was marred by controversy in the second set after umpire Carlos Ramos penalized Williams a point and then an entire game. Osaka beat Williams in straight sets -- 6-2, 6-4 -- to win her first Grand Slam title." ...
... Rebecca Traister of New York on the ump's sexist calls against Serena Williams: "The point isn't about the catsuit or the shirt or the broken racket or even the U.S. Open title. It's about the ways in which women's -- and especially nonwhite women's -- dress and bodies and behavior and expression and tone are still deemed unruly if they do not conform to the limited view of femininity established by men, especially if that unruliness suggests a direct threat to male authority." (Also linked yesterday.)
Bonnie Wertheim & Choire Sicha of the New York Times: "On Sunday night, Nia Franklin was crowned Miss America 2019. A classically trained opera singer, Ms. Franklin represented New York in the competition, focusing on equal opportunity and education in her interview questions.... The annual event and its parent organization have undergone a number of changes in the wake of the #MeToo movement. Sunday's Miss America was the first to suspend a 'swimsuit competition' since the first event, in 1921. Miss America has also been rebranded as a competition, rather than a pageant -- and yes, they're calling it Miss America 2.0. These changes followed internal reorganization over the last year. In December, the previous chief executive of the Miss America Organization, Sam Haskell, resigned after vicious and misogynist emails were made public.... The competition tonight did have fresh trappings.... Participants had platforms that were described as 'social impact statements.'"
Way Beyond the Beltway
Jon Henley of the Guardian: "Sweden faces a protracted period of political uncertainty after an election that left the two main parliamentary blocs tied but well short of a majority, and the far-right Sweden Democrats promising to wield 'real influence' in parliament despite making more modest gains than many had predicted. The populist, anti-immigrant party won 17.6% of the vote, according to preliminary official results -- well up on the 12.9% it scored in 2014, but far below the 25%-plus some polls had predicted earlier in the summer. It looked highly likely, however, to have a significant role in policymaking." --safari
News Ledes
New York Times: "With Hurricane Florence swiftly gaining strength and bearing down on the Southeast, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina on Monday ordered more than a million people living in eight coastal counties to evacuate inland.... Evacuations were also ordered in parts of North Carolina as the region braced for a major destructive hurricane projected to make landfall late Thursday or Friday, with damaging winds, torrential rains and a potentially destructive storm surge." ...
... The Times has a hurricane tracker here.
Miami Herald: "The 2018 hurricane season blew into high gear on Sunday. In its 11 p.m. Sunday advisory, the National Hurricane Center upgraded Tropical Storm Isaac to a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of nearly 75 mph. Isaac became the fifth hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic Season and the third storm being actively tracked in a busy weather weekend. But the gravest threat to the U.S. remains Hurricane Florence, which is expected to strengthen considerably by Monday night and remain 'an extremely dangerous major hurricane' through Thursday, according to the Hurricane Center."
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